If you couldn't see
by TheoneandonlyHadesdaughter
Summary: Warning: if you're easily emotionally triggered, please be careful with this story. Main pairing: Itadei. Uuggh I don't know, just please read :)
1. Chapter 1

**BTW: I do not own the Narutoverse :(**

 **Itachi POV:**

"Come on, Deidara! You _have_ to let me come over to yours!" Ino giggled, and Deidara threaded his arm around her shoulders.

"It's not really a great time for me at the minute, Ino." Deidara told her with a light-hearted smile. She looked annoyed, and threw his arm from her shoulders so that it hit his stomach. Although not hard, he flinched. She stormed off, leaving Deidara alone, who smiled and answered his ringing phone. "He-llo?"

There was a muffled reply, and Deidara laughed. "Okay, beautiful. I'll see you tomorrow."

Itachi stumbled into the canteen, heading over to Deidara. He flopped into the chair opposite him, tucking into the biscuits Deidara had thrown onto the table top. "Hey Dei."

"Hey Ita." Deidara said as Itachi studied his best friend carefully.

"There's something different about you. You've lost weight." Itachi finally managed to discover the thing that was bothering him.

"Oh yeah, umm… I guess I've been doing a lot more sport recently." Deidara shrugged vaguely, winking at a girl that walked past. "Anyway, I've gotta go." He stood up and waved to Itachi, walking as if he had an injury.

Itachi spent the rest of his lessons being his normal self, quiet and reserved. Deidara was too busy being over-confident to realise this, and instead was laughing and ignoring Itachi.

When Deidara took a break from flirting with the entire female population of the class, he went to talk to Itachi. "Hey, Deidara, when can I come over to yours?"

Deidara's eyes widened momentarily, but he quickly hardened them. "When I can come over to yours."

Itachi stared at him. "Come on, Deidara. You _know_ that's not fair! You know what my parents are like to me and Sasuke, and I-"

"No, Itachi. I don't want to hear it! If you want to be on equal ground, then that's the way it's going to be. Besides, your dad is _easy_." He stood with a superior expression, and glared at Itachi, who was left wondering what the hell had gotten into his best friend.

It made him _angry_. Deidara knew his dad beat them all up. He _knew_ that. So why was he being like this? The bell rang for maths, so Itachi made his way there slowly, avoiding talking to the blond when he sat beside him.

Deidara clicked his fingers in front of Itachi's face. "Yo, Uchiha. What's up with you?"

"You." Itachi told him, venom practically dripping from his words. "You know what my father's like, and still you… uugh." Deidara's eyes widened, and seemed to be glistening with something looking like tears.

"Oh, yeah. Because _you_ know _me_ so well." He replied as he stood and walked over to another table, where he sat with a group of students Itachi didn't even know.

During the course of the lesson, Itachi sat feeling more and more upset, and hating Deidara much more than he had before. Deidara, on the other hand, was laughing so much his sides hurt and getting so much attention that even he felt slightly uncomfortable. The group of students he was sat with consisted of Joanne Barton, the head girl who was past caring about the state of the school and had no objections to criticism, Alexis Manor, one of the popular girls with her skirt around her waist and not covering her underwear, and Finn Jordan, probably the most popular boy in the year and it was quite understandable why after a single glance at him.

"Mr Jordan, if you would be so kind as to listen?" The teacher called to Finn, who was in the middle of telling Deidara a joke. Everyone on the table was listening closely, but not to the joke, oh no. To Deidara's laugh, which was absolutely adorable.

"Can you not hear him laugh?" Alexis cut in, and the teacher nodded.

"So what?"

Alexis glared at him. "Are you joking? Are you actually joking with me?" She turned her face away from him, and carried on doodling on Deidara's arm. Giving up, the teacher shrugged and carried on with his lesson, just as Finn carried on with his joke.

The bell rang just as Finn finished the joke, which left Deidara laughing so much that he felt light-headed and almost dizzy. He completely ignored Itachi as they passed by the door to the classroom, and headed towards town with the new group of buddies.

Itachi shrugged, seeing as he had already guessed that was going to happen. He made his way to his meeting place with Sasuke, his younger brother, and sat on the floor to wait. Luckily, it was sunny, so Itachi had no objection to sitting for the ten minutes it would take for his little brother to get to him. When the younger Uchiha arrived, he looked confused for a moment.

"Are you okay, Sasuke? What's wrong?"

"No, nothing. I was just wondering where Deidara is?"

Itachi stood. "Probably in town, I don't know. Shall we go and get sweets before we go home? I can't face dad, not quite yet." He admitted to Sasuke, who nodded eagerly.

"Oh, can we? Yeah! Let's go!" He pulled on his brother's arm, beginning to run. Itachi laughed at his brother's infectious enthusiasm.

"Sasuke, calm down!" Itachi said, to no affect. Sasuke simply carried on running, yelling incoherently about Deidara and something that sounded like brandy. Itachi felt like crying. Even his brother seemed obsessed with the blond.

Sasuke pulled his older brother into the sweet shop barely two minutes later, where his eyes locked not on the sweets, but the group of people standing just inside the door. "Deidara!" Sasuke yelled, dropping his brother's sleeve and running over to Deidara and attacking him with a hug. The blond smiled, dropping his bag onto the floor so he could wrap his arms around the younger Uchiha boy.

"Hey Sasuke. Where's your brother?" Deidara asked, his tone more conversational than actually concerned.

"Umm… Over there." Sasuke pointed to Itachi, who had been lumbered with Sasuke's bags as well as his own. He nodded awkwardly, and Deidara allowed Sasuke to talk to his new group of friends as picked up his backpack and crossed the shop to talk to the other brother.

Itachi glared at him warily, but Deidara simply took the brothers' bags and swung them over his shoulder. "I'll meet you outside." He muttered, leaving Itachi with an open mouth and no weight on his shoulders. He grabbed a bowl as Deidara's group of friends passed him to get to where the blond was waiting outside, and Sasuke followed example, popping up beside Itachi and almost giving him a heart attack.

"Ooh, I want bon-bons. And bubblegum. And jelly beans." Sasuke's muttering echoed around the shop, but Itachi managed to block it out pretty effectively as he quickly chose his lot, pulling Sasuke away from the sweets and towards the counter when his pile began to reach the top of the bowl.

The shopkeeper looked at the two, before bagging the sweets up and handing them to Itachi, who was confused. "I don't understand. I can pay for them."

"No, Itachi Uchiha. You can't." He said, winking at the two boys and disappearing almost like a ghost. Sasuke grinned, running out of the shop with the bag he had grabbed from Itachi's hand. The older Uchiha sighed, following with very little energy.

"Deidara!" He yelled, and Itachi flinched, but Deidara only seemed to have ever lasting patience with the little kid.

"Hey Sasuke. I'm tired, so I'm going home now, okay?" his voice was soft, almost as if it was hiding tears. The youngest Uchiha nodded, taking his bags from the boy and passing his older brother's to him. Deidara smiled, waving over his shoulder as he walked away. Alexis whistled as he turned the corner, grinning at Joanne.

"Dayum, he's _hot_!"

"I swear he should be female." Finn agreed, folding his arms over his chest and throwing a jelly bean into his mouth.

Itachi and Sasuke walked away, still hearing the group talking about the blond. "Haha. The joke's on them. He's an asshole." Itachi muttered, and Sasuke shook his head rapidly. Itachi raised an eyebrow, but Sasuke began to speak.

"You don't know what he's going through, Itachi! I do. He's only, what… 16? Yeah, he's already a Jonin, and he's working for Pein." Itachi stared at his brother, and Sasuke nodded, almost as if he was proud of Deidara. Pein was a name that everyone had heard. You want someone dead, you talk to Pein and he'll arrange it. You want something illegal to happen, but don't want to get caught, you talk to Pein and he'll do it. The last thing you do is cross him, unless you want to wake up face down in the sea.

"But… What? You have to have a specialized skill to work for Pein, I've heard. What's his?" Itachi asked his younger brother when he remembered he had a voice. Sasuke shrugged, slowing down his pace as they walked up the driveway to their mansion. Itachi shivered, and the two clasped each other's hands tight.

 **Hello! I am aware this is a short chapter, but I feel like they will get longer! If you'll bear with me, I promise you'll see why I am torturing my (borrowed) characters. Cheerio!  
~Theoneandonly**


	2. Chapter 2

**HELLO! Second chapter already, my oh my. This one is important for seeing things in Deidara's slightly twisted POV. I still don't own these beautiful works of art, despite the constant bullying! On with the show!**

 **Deidara POV:**

As soon as he turned the corner, Deidara could see the Uchiha mansion, standing proudly beside the Hyuuga's. He allowed his eyes to linger there for a little while, before he heard footsteps behind him and began to sprint in the direction of his house.

He shoved through the broken door with all of his weight, hoping beyond everything else that his parents weren't home. "Hello?" He called, and the only reply he got was a timid meow from their cat, Denka. "Denka. Hello." The cat twirled itself around his ankles, so Deidara bent down to stroke it's head.

"Deidara. You're late." The voice was as cold as ice, and as hard as steel.

"I'm sorry, Father." Deidara stood, bowing his head. The man cracked his knuckles, and Deidara closed his eyes in anticipation. Surely enough, the older man's fist met Deidara's face, but the blond was so numb to it now, it didn't seem to hurt.

"Get out of my sight."

Deidara did as he was asked, almost slipping as he turned away from the man too quickly. He left the room, the end of a belt just clipping his right side. It was only when he got to his room that he pulled his shirt off, standing in front of a mirror and inspecting the damage. There was a lovely red mark on his side, and he allowed himself to laugh hollowly. A bit stupid of his parents to beat a child so pale. He tied his hair back, gathering the courage to look at his face. As a young child, he had no problem with it, seeing as he just looked cute. Now?

If it were possible, he would've lifted both eyes to look, but as it was, he could only use one. As always, what his right eye saw was horrible. The scar running the length of his face was angry and raised from the blow he had just received, and his right eye was developing a lovely rim of black to match it.

"Great." He muttered. "I have Akatsuki later. How the hell am I going to explain that to Konan?" He got quickly changed into the uniform, before rapidly searching his room for make-up. He found foundation thrown under his bed, which he rubbed around his eye as best as he could without being able to see. The end result was acceptable, giving his eye the appearance that he hadn't slept in a very long time. He attached his clay bag to his belt loops, before flipping out of his bedroom window and running through all the back alleys to the abandoned building where he met Hidan. The obsessed Jashinist noticed that the blond was more out of breath than usual, but decided not to comment.

"You ready, Deidara?"

"Sure." Deidara replied, smoothing his hair closer to his left eye. Hidan noted the small movement, before Deidara placed his hand against one of the walls and created a portal, which the two jumped through without a second look. When they arrived at their destination, Deidara's perfect hair was a mess, and Hidan's death God make-up had run to make him look like a zebra. Deidara gasped, turning away from the Jashinist and sprinting to the nearest bathroom.

"Deidara?" Hidan called after him, but the blond took no notice, slamming the door closed and checking the mirror.

"Shit!" He cursed, seeing that his less than perfect make-up was now everywhere but where he put it. He washed it off quickly, inventing a cover story of what happened to him. As he emerged from the bathroom, he headed to the den, which he knew was where he'd find Hidan, his sempai Kakuzu and his own sempai Sasori.

Pein was the first to spot the blond, watching him carefully as he ditched his cloak on the arm of the sofa and hid his face as best as he could. "Deidara. Glad you're here. Sasori and these two are going on a mission, so I thought I'd take you into Konoha and spar with you. That sound okay?"

Deidara nodded. "Sure. It sounds good."

"Good. Off we all go then. You'll need your shuriken holster, but not your clay, Deidara." Pein told the blond, who nodded and swapped them over quickly, leaving his clay on the sofa beside his cloak. The group all left the base at the same time, before splitting up and making portals to various destinations.

Deidara looked at Pein. "Do you want me to portal, or are you going to?" He made the mistake of meeting the leader's eyes, and the older male almost lost it.

"Deidara, what the hell happened?"

He took a step closer to the blond to inspect his face closer, but Deidara flinched back from him. "I'm sorry, Pein." He kept his head low, and Pein's Rinnegan eyes widened dramatically.

"Whoa, hey, I come in peace. What happened?" The leader's voice was soft as he wrapped his arms around the blond. "You can tell me."

Deidara shook his head. "Can you just make a portal. We need to go." Pein did so, keeping one arm wrapped around the younger male. They jumped through the portal, which ripped the two apart, and they landed on the floor in the abandoned warehouse in Konoha. Deidara landed on his right side, and bit his lip to stop himself from crying out.

"Hey, you okay?" Pein helped Deidara to his feet, and the blond wrapped his arms around his waist so Pein couldn't see the marks and scars on his sides.

"I'm fine."

Pein raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue. "Okay. Come on then, we're going to the academy." The two began to walk, Deidara trying as hard as he could to keep up with the older male. Pein looked over his shoulder in concern as the blond stumbled over a rock and almost fell, putting his hands out in front of himself in protection. "Deidara, what happened to your side?"

"Nothing. I hurt it when we fell through the portal." He lied, biting his bottom lip. Pein grabbed his wrists as gently as he could that would keep the blond still.

"Deidara, stop lying to me. Something's going on, and I need to know what, okay?" Deidara flinched back from his boss. Pein let go immediately, holding his hands up. "I'm sorry. Should we skip sparring? You need natto." Deidara nodded, walking close to Pein's side. Walking through Konoha, Deidara spotted his mother, and pulled Pein into an alleyway, shaking. The lady walked past the end of the alley, and Deidara waited a few seconds before he pulled Pein back onto the streets.

"Deidara, you're shaking. Who was that?"

"My mother." Deidara supplied, rubbing the material of his shirt against his arm. Pein pulled the blond into a hug, and Deidara wrapped his arms around his boss as well.

"Oh, Deidara." The blond was crying, hiding his head and leaning into Pein. "Why didn't you tell me before? How long has this been going on?"

Deidara shrugged. "I can't remember. A long time, I guess. It… It doesn't hurt anymore." he whispered, and Pein hugged him closer, staying silent. "Don't tell anyone, Pein. Please. It would only get worse. My father hears about everything. The only reason he allows me to go to Akatsuki is because he's scared of you."

"Deidara, you're stronger than I am! Why do you put up with this?"

"Because, that's the point. I'm not stronger than you. Sasori might be, but I'm not!" The blond wiped his face with one of his sleeves. "Besides, you have a reputation. Everyone knows you, what you do, who you deal with. You're famous."

"Fine then." Pein stepped back from the blond, meeting his eyes. Well… eye. "Fight me. Right here."

"But… I don't have my clay. I'm useless without it!" The blond protested. Pein shook his head, gesturing to Deidara's belt.

"You have Shuriken and taijutsu. Now go." The blond narrowed his eyes, pulling a shuriken from his holster. Pein mirrored the action, smiling at the blond. "Go." Deidara threw himself to the ground to avoid the shuriken thrown at his head, staying down as the shadow passed over his head. He flipped to his feet and threw his own, watching as Pein caught it between his thumb and two of his fingers. The ginger grinned, dropping the shuriken, where it turned into an image of Hidan with his scythe outstretched. Deidara simply raised an eyebrow, and the image dissipated into air.

"Try harder." He said, flipping a few signs and placing his hand on the floor. Pein blinked as glowing lines appeared on the floor around him, radiating from Deidara's hand. The leader pushed his hand forward, the palm facing Deidara, and the younger male flew backwards, flipping in the air and landing on his feet, skidding as they touched the ground. He spat blood onto the floor, dragging it into a shape with the toe of his boots. Pein watched, fascinated, as the shape began to collapse into itself and a shape pushed itself up through it, smoking as the reaction occurred. When the shape became vaguely humanoid, Pein gasped, covering his head as an explosion rocked the area. "I don't need clay to make an explosion." Deidara smiled, as the dust cleared and he saw Pein curled into a ball on the floor.

"You win. Well fought." Pein said, picking himself up off of the street and walking over to the blond bomber.

"Hmm." Deidara smiled. "I'm sorry. I'll buy you… Miso ramen?" The leader nodded rapidly, and the two began to make their way to Deidara's local ramen stop. The owner's daughter, Ayame, was serving, and she took one look at the two before speaking.

"It's on the house."

"Ayame, we can pay." Deidara protested, but Pein nodded his thanks and lead the blond to a table. Deidara folded his arms over his chest. "Pein, we can pay."

Pein rapped the blond's knuckles lightly. "Be thankful." Deidara nodded, and allowed Ayame to bring them over huge bowls of steaming miso. "Thank you, Miss Ayame." Pein bowed, and the girl returned the gesture, leaving as soon as she had done so.

 **Okay so I said they'd be longer, and they will in the future, I promise, but are we getting it now? I'm making myself sad; why do I do these things! See you next chapter!  
~Theoneandonly**


	3. Chapter 3

**How are we doing everyone? On with the story!  
(Still don't own these magnificent... beauties?!)**

 **Itachi POV:**

"Do it now, before I have a reason to throw you out." Fugaku Uchiha yelled at his oldest son, who flinched.

"Yes, sir." He turned on his heel, heading in the direction of town. Sasuke passed him in the hallway, deciding that he would accompany his older brother into town so that he wouldn't have to carry too much on his own. The two left the house almost silently, running into town as quickly as they could so that they could grab a bowl of ramen before they went shopping.

When they reached the ramen stand, they walked in and immediately spotted Deidara and someone they didn't know, who luckily weren't facing the brothers. "Hey, Itachi, that's Deidara!" Sasuke said, pulling his brother's arm. "Can we go say hi?"

"No, Sasuke. Be quiet." Itachi ordered, ordering two bowls of miso ramen from Ayame. The two found a table close enough to Deidara's that they could hear their conversation perfectly, but not so close that they looked like stalkers.

"Pein, I'm fine. Seriously. I'm used to it by now. I've been used to it for over ten years." Deidara said with a sigh, and the Uchiha brothers exchanged a glance. _That's Pein?_ Itachi mouthed, and Sasuke shrugged. "I don't understand why it's such a problem if you've only just noticed."

"Deidara, you know you're my favourite member, right? You need to tell me these things! God damn, I could kill your parents!" The ginger man stabbed a shuriken into the table in anger. "Or, you could. You literally just won in a fight against me, and if that doesn't convince you that you're strong, then I don't know what will. You just have to believe in yourself. The rest of us know you can do it!"

Deidara's voice sounded low and choked, leaving Itachi to come to the conclusion that he was crying. "Pein, you know I can't." There was a ruffle of material as Pein shuffled over on the sofa to hug the blond ninja.

"I know. I'm sorry." The master assassin's voice was gentle and soft, leading Itachi to wonder how he was so cold-hearted in his business. "Anyway," he coughed, "Sasori will be taking you on a mission to Suna in about a week. You'll be neutralizing a target of mine who happens to be a well known drug lord and complete asshole."

Deidara sighed. "Not Gậto again." He groaned, bringing a hand to his head. "I hate him. The last time I saw him was when you were allies, and he _still_ had the balls to try and beat the shit out of me." He sniffed. "It naturally didn't work, but still. He's a dick."

"It's fine, it's not Gậto. It's this kid called Kimimaro."

Deidara grinned. "Oh, bone bender. I haven't had a tangle with him since he killed good old Orochimaru."

Itachi shivered. Orochimaru was the most sick person to have ever worked for Pein. And apparently, he was friends with Deidara. Orochimaru's reputation was as well-known as Pein's, but for all the wrong reasons.

"Yes. You did well then." There was pride in the assassin's voice as he hugged Deidara tighter to his side. "Especially as you had to fight Fugaku as well. I don't think that even I'd take him on."

Itachi listened closer as Deidara shrugged and carried on speaking to his boss. "It wasn't much. I only managed to wound him, and even that wasn't very bad. It was only to get him out of the way." Itachi's eyes widened. Deidara though that wound wasn't very bad? Fugaku still couldn't use ninjutsu from almost 7 years ago.

"Deidara, you were 9."

"Still. I could've done better."

"Even I couldn't." Pein said, pointing one of his chopsticks at the blond. "Besides, you could do better now that you have your specialty instead of just general stuff." He nudged the blond with a grin.

Deidara simply shrugged in reply. "Yeah, but I don't think I can stick with it. I mean, Sasori's is so cool! And then you have mine. Bleh."

"Deidara, I'd kill to be able to blow people up as easily as looking at them. You're amazing, you just don't realise."

Itachi was beginning to realise. He looked at Sasuke, who's eyebrows had receded into his hairline, and took a few noodles mindlessly into his mouth. "Sasuke!" He hissed quietly, and his younger brother flipped his head around so he could see Itachi.

"What?" He hissed in reply.

"He's a bomber?"

Sasuke shrugged, and Itachi clicked his phone on, checking the time. "OH my God, Sasuke! We're going to be killed if we aren't back at the mansion in an hour!" Itachi's voice was loud this time, and Deidara and Pein whipped their heads around.

"Itachi?" Deidara enquired gently. "What's wrong?" Pein looked sideways at his bomber with a smile on his face.

"Aww, you're so cute." The master criminal giggled. _Actually giggled._ Deidara turned to him and placed a finger on his lips in the universal sign for 'be quiet'. He stood, crossing the small stand to the Uchihas.

"Are you okay?" He asked Itachi, his sapphire blue eyes capturing the Uchiha's.

Itachi snorted, pulling away from the bomber. "I'm fine. _We're_ fine. We don't need anyone's help, least of all yours." He bit at the blond, who physically recoiled.

When he spoke, his voice held the weight of hurt. "I'm only trying to help you, Itachi." The way he said Itachi's name sent shivers through the older male's body. The word managed to incorporate hate and hurt in one. "But, you know what? How many times have I tried to help you and you've turned down my offer? Well, I'm done."

Sasuke grabbed at the blond's arm. "No, Deidara." The blond softened a bit as he saw tears gathering in the younger boy's eyes. "Don't go! You have to help us!"

"You don't need my help." The blond replied, tears glistening in his own eyes. Pein pulled him into a hug as the blond shook Sasuke's arm off of his own.

"Deidara. Hey, hey. Come on, gorgeous. Don't cry. You're stronger than he is." Deidara crumpled into his boss, unable to stop. "Deidara, come on. Stop it." The ginger male turned to Itachi, who noticed that his eyes were pale purple and had several rings, like multiple irises. "Who are you?" His voice had suddenly become very hard.

Which only made Itachi cocky. "Itachi Uchiha. What's it to you?"

Deidara snapped his eyes to Itachi's and had a kunai to his throat before Itachi could even register that he moved. "You dare insult Pein, and I swear. I will kill you." the venom in his voice did nothing but persuade Itachi he wasn't lying.

"Deidara, calm down." He said, and the blond's eyes turned back to sad mode. He took a deep breath, before stepping backwards and disappearing. Pein grabbed the front of his shirt, pinning him up against one of the walls of the ramen stand.

"You ever say one bad word to him again, and I promise you that I will find you and skin you alive. I never break promises. You have no idea what he's gone through."

"Yeah? And you have no idea what I've gone through!"

"Oh, really? Oh, do tell."

"Fine. My father…" His voice became choked. "Let's just say that… to him, Sasuke and I are no more than punch bags. This started about 5 years ago, and-"

Pein yawned. "That all? Deidara's exactly the same, only it's both of his parents, and I have a feeling it's been going on for a little while now. Oh, that's right! Over _ten_ years ago. He killed a boy his own age when he was only 8, and shortly followed that up by being ordered to kill an Anbu Black Ops member four times his age. He was _eight._ He's been working with me since he was six. He's seen some things that I wouldn't like my _worst enemy_ to see, and if you think that he's not strong, then I will gladly get him to prove it. There's something about you, too." Pein leaned down to whisper into Itachi's ear. "He loves you."

Then the ginger stepped back, closed his purple eyes and faded into darkness. Itachi's head was spinning from all the information that Pein had given him. Especially the last bit. Itachi had noticed that Deidara always took whatever he said badly, especially as Itachi was usually horrible to the blond. "Oh god." He whispered. "Oh no." He covered his face with his hands.

"What did he whisper to you?" Sasuke asked, and Itachi shook his head.

"No. Nothing." He stumbled out of the ramen stand, dragging Sasuke along with him. They rushed around getting shopping, and getting it back from the centre. They ended up running back, and sorting the shopping into their cupboards.

Itachi fell into his room, closing the door quietly behind him, but almost screamed when he saw that Pein was sat on his bed. "Jesus, what are you doing here?"

"Come with me."

The look in his eyes told Itachi that it wasn't an offer, but an order. "Fine."

 **So how are we all? No too ruined, are we? I'm gonna hit you with a long chapter now, I promise!  
~Theoneandonly**


	4. Chapter 4

**Not sure whether to make this the last chapter or not... I don't know. We'll see. No owner status yet, but I'm still trying!**

 **Deidara POV:**

The blond slammed the door at the Akatsuki base as he walked into his room, sinking down against one of the walls and crying. He felt numb all over, like ice water had been poured over him. Sasori was banging on his door, but the sound was far away.

The blond sniffed, writing hurriedly.

 _I don't know... How to start this. Sasori, I guess. You know I'll always love you, but... The world just isn't my place. You know that best out of all of us, and I'm sorry that you've had to put up with me for this long. No. That's not what... Not what I meant. Oh God, I'm useless, even at this. Pein. You were always there for me, and you were my role model. I... I love all of you, is what I'm trying to say. I love you all, and I'm sorry. I love you._

He placed his pen down on his cluttered desk, picking up a kunai. He closed his eyes as the sensation of burning crept across his skin, followed closely by a freezing cold. He pulled the knife from his chest, and took the paper in his hand, feeling weaker and weaker with every second that passed. Eventually, he could feel no more, and his breathing stopped, tears still wet on his face.

Pein slammed through the door, followed closely by Sasori and Itachi. All three of them took in the sight at the same time, but Itachi was the only one to stay shocked still. Pein crossed over to Deidara's body, pulling the paper from his cold hands and reading it with tears streaming down his face. He motioned To Sasori, who knew exactly what the ginger wanted him to do. Pein stood up, clearly in an immense amount of pain. He fixed his gaze on Itachi, who was shocked at the feelings shooting through him.

Itachi Uchiha was guilty.

And not only that, but sad. He didn't want Deidara to die.

Pein was aware of the tears filling Itachi's eyes, but couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for the boy, and instead focussed on helping Sasori take Deidara to the medical wing of the base. Sasori had managed to stop the wound from bleeding quite so much, and therefore Deidara's breathing had returned, albeit shallowly.

"Hey, Pein, I was looking for Dei-" a girl with short purple hair started, but trailed off as she saw Sasori. "Oh my god. What happened?" She told Sasori to put the blond on the floor and ripped off her clock, kneeling on the dusty floor in her knee high boots and black body-con dress. She was fussing over him, and gently injected a liquid the same golden colour as his hair into his upper arm.

Itachi found himself holding his breath, and he stepped closer to the blond until he was kneeling beside the girl. She looked at him, and was shocked when she found that he wasn't Sasori. "Who are... never mind. We don't have time for this. You can be useful, right?" She asked, and Itachi nodded, finding that even through the shock, he could move. "Good. Then grab me three towels and a bowl of hot water. And when I say hot, I mean like... burning. Okay?"

Itachi nodded and stumbled to a bathroom he had passed on the way to the blond's room. He quickly turned the tap on, sticking the bowl beneath it whilst he searched through the cupboards to find the towels. When he had located them, the bowl was almost full, so he simply turned the tap off and returned to the bedroom. He found it empty of everyone except Sasori as he walked in, and the redhead grabbed his arm, saying 'Infirmary' and lapsing into silence. Itachi shook Sasori's hand off of his arm and received a scowl from the older male. Itachi handed the purple haired girl what she had asked for as soon as he entered the room, marvelling at how large it was for a team he knew to only consist of eight people.

His head was in the clouds, and it was only when Pein yelled "Konan, he's flat-lining!" that he began to pay attention. And even then, he didn't have time to think about it before he was put into action by the purple haired girl.

* * *

After a day of running around a place he had never seen before, Itachi was tired, confused, but happy the blond was still alive. They may not have been on speaking terms, but Deidara was still his best friend, and it seemed stupid to lose him over something like this. He had been asleep by Deidara's side, when a grating noise woke him up. The noise repeated itself, and Itachi looked up to see that it was Deidara coughing. He grinned, yelling the blond's name and throwing his arms around him, not caring that he had just woken up.

"Itachi? Where am I? Shouldn't I be in a coma or something?" There was a pause, then "Wait, don't we hate each other?"

Itachi shook his head, hugging Deidara tighter and laughing. "No. You're at the Akatsuki base, Deidara. Do you not remember anything?"

Deidara considered for a moment, then shook his head. He sighed, then started to talk. "Well, I guess... I remember some things. I remember portalling back here and sitting in my room. I was writing... I had a kunai... I was-" He trailed off, and looked down at himself. "I guess that didn't work."

"I'm glad it didn't." Itachi blurted out, clapping his hands over his mouth as soon as he had spoken. Deidara raised an eyebrow at him, half of his mouth rising in a smirk.

"Prove it."

"What?" Itachi looked incredulous, but the blond just sat back and repeated the words. Itachi was still looking confused when Deidara rolled his eyes and leaned forward. His eyes locked on Itachi's, and he whispered something to him before locking their lips.

" _Careful, I'm addictive."_

 **HEY! It's over, and that saddens me, but now I can get on with the next chapter! See you all there?  
~Theoneandonly**


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